This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division
Rolli Hits Milestone, Prepares for Playoffs With the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth’s 4-2 victory over Johnson & Wales Saturday night, coach John Rolli earned his 500th victory. In his typical fashion, he downplayed the milestone. “It’s a longevity milestone, I think,†chuckled the affable coach. “We’ve had great players and great teams over the years. We’ve … Read more
A First And A Return Brockport did something never before accomplished in school history and Geneseo returned to their winning playoff ways after a three year drought in the SUNYAC play-in round. Brockport not only hosted their first playoff game ever, they won their first playoff game in school history, defeating Potsdam, 3-1. “It feels … Read more
â€Rise and Shine, It’s Playoff Time†That’s how Elmira coach Tim Ceglarski greeted me when we talked early on Tuesday morning. It may have been the case of too many cups of coffee, but he definitely has a point. It is time for playoff hockey in the ECAC West and teams either win or see … Read more
It’s essentially down to a two-team race for the CHA regular-season title. After sweeping Niagara in western New York last week, Bemidji State can clinch at least a tie for the title with one win in its season-ending series next week at home against Robert Morris. A sweep would give the Beavers the championship outright … Read more
Those of you who put Yale above Princeton and Cornell in your preseason picks, please raise your hands. The rest of you: look around for anyone with his or her hand up; don’t bother asking them to watch your house while you’re on vacation. What We Know With only four points left on the table, … Read more
Two weekends left until we put another WCHA regular season in the books. When the season began in October, this all seemed so far away, but here it is, having crept up on us like a serious case of spring fever. Although the spring fever could just be me, given that it’s been in the … Read more
Showdown This one’s been circled on the calendar for quite some time — Air Force travels to RIT this weekend to settle the Atlantic Hockey regular-season title. Commissioner Bob DiGregorio will be on hand to present the trophy, but he may need two. The teams are tied for first with identical 19-5-2 records. If they … Read more
Congratulations, Notre Dame … And Now You’ve Done It Sure, the Fighting Irish have won their second regular-season title in three years, but does anyone else see the real evil lurking for Notre Dame because of this? In 2007, the fourth-place Michigan State Spartans beat Boston College for a national championship. In 2008, the Fighting … Read more
Breaking Down the Final Two Weeks The finish line, my friends, is almost in sight. Hockey East has two weekends of play remaining with each team playing a pair of two-game sets between now and March 8. But even with the end in sight, what is visible is still pretty murky. There’s a two-horse race … Read more
The pieces of the jigsaw puzzle are finally falling into place. Last week’s action solidified playoff positions in the NCHA and MCHA, and the end result is a host of interesting first round match-ups in both leagues. In the NCHA, nothing is more intriguing than the 4/5 tilt between the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and … Read more
Win Or Go Home For several MIAC teams, the playoffs begin this week. Only two of the league’s five playoff spots are spoken for, and seven of the conference’s nine teams still have a shot at earning a berth to the postseason tournament. For those teams that advance, a chance at earning the MIAC’s automatic … Read more
Three weeks to go until the CHA community converges on Bemidji, Minn. Three weeks until we find out the CHA representative in the NCAA tournament as the league’s autobid is used for probably the last time. Three weeks until more banter begins about the futures of Bemidji State and Alabama-Huntsville. Three weeks until “next season” … Read more
The Quiet Conquerors “Quiet” is a word that is pleasant to the ears of Vermont head coach Kevin Sneddon. He himself is relatively soft-spoken. A Harvard graduate, Sneddon speaks authoritatively but with little pomp and circumstance. Behind the bench you’ll see a stoic yet focused coach. His team, in a way, has assumed their coach’s … Read more
Quick someone find me a mathematician–the possible playoff permutations are mind boggling as we head into the regular season’s final weekend. What we know about next week’s conference playoffs won’t fill a thimble compared to what is completely up in the air including: who is in, who is out, who can win the regular season … Read more
Here’s how I’d analyze my preseason predictions at this juncture: 1. Princeton: not a bad pick, though the Tigers haven’t been as consistently dominant as I’d expected. 2. Cornell: if anything, I may have sold the Big Red short in my mind. They just seemed like Princeton’s default runner-up, when they’ve been anything but. 3. … Read more
We are only a month away from the Final Five. Crazy, huh? Three more weekends of the regular season, then quarterfinals and bam, before you know it, we’ll all be convening in St. Paul. Of course, as mentioned, it’s a few weeks away and there’s still hockey to be played and conference standings to be … Read more
With five points separating the top three teams in the ECAC Northeast, it’s obvious that this race is going right down to the final buzzer. Right at the top of the pile is Curry College, one point behind front runner Nichols, and coach Rob Davies is happy with where they are at this juncture. “If … Read more
Back on Top Thanks to a weekend sweep of Holy Cross and a split between Air Force and Bentley, RIT is again on top of the see-saw AHA standings. For the Tigers, the pair of wins were their 13th and 14th in their last 15 contests and their 11th and 12th straight over the Crusaders, … Read more
Logjam The stress level just keeps increasing as no one has been able to pull away from the rest in the middle of the pack. Heck, not even Plattsburgh has clinched first place. To wit: if Oswego wins their match-up on Friday and beats Potsdam, and if Plattsburgh losses to Cortland, the two teams will … Read more
The Honeymoon Is Over Last week’s column was my nine-page valentine to you, dear reader. This week is different. When my Mott Community College students complained about the single class in which they received chocolate this week, I told them, “I only love you enough to buy you half-priced, post-Valentine’s Day candy once, not twice.” … Read more